You could have any animal living in your backyard

Ha ha - hmmmm. A troupe of gorillas. They have fun interactions. Rambunctious juveniles, competitive males trying to intimidate each other, cool silverbacks.

This is a hilariously tame topic considering the civil war breaking out in the Political Discourse forum right now 😂

That said I'd go practical with a cow. I'd even wagyu it up and let it have a few beers before it became a steak.

I'd probably go outside the box, but pressed right up against it. Like a wolf or maybe like a snow leopard. You know, something that's kinda a cat/dog.

Assuming not only that it's tame and friendly, but that I also had everything required to provide it a reasonable quality of life which I think is kinda in the spirit of the question.

Red raccoons or polar bears

A pack of wolves or a tiger.

I already have an animal who lives in my backyard. She is a cat who has been here since the previous owners lived here. I've seen her hunt birds and then trot off with them to go eat her dinner in peace. She comes up to my back porch, and she's feral so of course I can't let her inside, so we just conserve (via meow) through opposite sides of the sliding glass doors until she gets bored with me and walks off to go do some cat stuff. She survives through the winter by living in my barn, apparently.

Basically any feline would be cool, except for hairless cats as they do not bring me joy.

A decent sized snake would be fun to hang out with, but something so huge like the larger Anacondas and Pythons would just be a little too creepy, so something like a Black Mamba would be nice, provided that it doesn't kill me.

If we can use the animal for milk, I would want a yak or camel. That to me is more valuable than a big cat or bear you can only watch or pet.

As I type this, I see a coyote out in my backyard, looking forward to having bears.

I’ve posted a beluga whale returning a cell phone on here. But here is one playing fetch. m.youtube.com That’s a wild whale. I’ve never seen a bad video of those things they gotta be the freindliest animal out there.

I think a family of otters would be cool!

I’ve had a bobcat living in the wooded area on the side of my home closest to the pond, and a few years back there was a black bear living on a plot nearby. Of course this being Florida we get visiting alligators often, still plenty of wildlife nearby as we are very close to the Everglades.

I already have a preserve with alligators, bobcats, owls, bats, otters, king snakes, coral snakes, water moccasins, turtles, tortoises, ospreys, hawks, bald eagles, gar, herons, ibis, egrets, field mice, palm rats, voles, iguanas, geckos, tree frogs, and coyotes against my rear fence. They all wander into my yard and around my block regularly. Possibly, if I'm very lucky, there could even be a black bear or Florida panther breeding deep in the slough. I really don't need anything more.

A family of elephants might be interesting.
m.youtube.com

2 bengal tigers in the backyard and 2 dolphins in the lake

A Koala. Super cute and likely a babe magnet. All you need is a eucalyptus tree.

Bigfoot